Team Rocket Revolution and the Origin of Silver
by Servini
Summary: Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime are three Team Rocket agents deployed from Johto to Kanto to assist in operations like the Silph Co. takeover and the Lavender Town hostages. After they ambush 10-year old Sylvester from Pallet Town and steal his Charmander, newly promoted Detective Jenny is assigned to help in an investigation of Team Rocket's activities. And Sylvester wants revenge.
1. A Rough Start

CHAPTER ONE: A ROUGH START

It was a bright and sunny morning. Not a single cloud was present to adulterate the beautiful light-blue sky. The jubilant chirps of several flocks of Pidgey and Spearow could be heard from the lush treetops. But not everything was quite as innocent as the songs of the flying-type pokemon. Something sinister was in the works—three agents of the crime syndicate Team Rocket were camped out in the forest, off the path on Route 1, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to ambush naïve new trainers with rare starter pokemon from Pallet Town.

"Oak's bound to be sending off a few brats any day now," Chi said impatiently as she tied back her long, straight black hair into a bun. "This is the time of year that they typically start. School's just ended for the ten year olds and the weather is nice and mild. They should be strolling down this path by now."

"I know; I believe you, Chi," said her partner Kai. He yawned, stretching out his arms. They'd just woken up. "Just because we haven't seen any the past few days doesn't mean we won't. We just have to be patient."

Chi sighed. "You're right. And when we do…"

"We'll have ourselves a Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle to bring back to the agency for a nice big commission," Kai completed her sentence. Their eyes met as they both grinned menacingly.

"Mime! Mime! Mr. Mime!" cheered their third partner, a Mr. Mime that had been assigned to work with them during training. The three then sunk back into the bushes, ensuring that they could watch the path from a safe distance, completely unnoticed.

* * *

"Today's the day!" Sylvester leaped out of bed. After studying devoutly throughout his short academic career and earning top marks in all of his pokemon courses, Sylvester felt well-prepared to begin his next undertaking as a pokemon trainer. For years, he'd been praised by his parents, teachers, and even Professor Oak as the most promising trainer-to-be of Pallet Town in his year's cohort. Now that he was ten years old, he was legally allowed to begin his journey.

"Breakfast is all ready, Sylvester! Eat up quickly and head down to Professor Oak's lab." Sylvester's mother cheerfully bellowed as he came running down the stairs of their two-story home.

"Thanks, Mom!" Sylvester sat for his last breakfast as a "child" with his mother and father, and inhaled his pancakes as they prepared him to go out into the pokemon world.

"Are you excited, son?" asked his father.

"Of course, Dad! I've been waiting for this my whole life," Sylvester immediately replied.

"Have you given any thought as to what starter pokemon you will choose from Professor Oak's lab?" asked his mother.

Sylvester smirked. "I'm way past that! I'm going to pick Charmander, which will eventually evolve into Charizard. I want to have a well-balanced team in order to avoid having too many type weaknesses, so my plan is to catch Gyarados, Machamp, Jolteon, Clefable, and Sandslash as the other five! They should cover all of Charizard's weak spots."

"Son, those are some pretty rare pokemon… It's great to have lofty goals, but perhaps don't plan too far in advance," warned his father.

"Whatever—I can do it," Sylvester sharply rebutted. And with that, his plate was empty. "…All done! Thanks so much for breakfast, Mom! I'm going to head over to Professor Oak's now to pick up my first pokemon!"

"Okay, stop by one more time before you head off! We need to make sure you have everything—food, water, clothes, medicine, tools… Anything you could possibly need!" his mother instructed.

"Will do, Mom." Sylvester raced out the door and began running down the street towards the Oak lab.

The townspeople seemed extra upbeat today. Being that Pallet Town was a relatively small and tight-knit community, its residents usually made sure to know when they were sending off a new trainer. As Sylvester passed by each grassy green front lawn and house along the dirt road, a seemingly endless parade of neighbors waved him good-bye and wished him good luck. At last, he reached the big glassy building known as Professor Oak's lab, with a large field enclosure behind it. The automatic doors slid of the building opened as Sylvester bolted inside. "Professor Oak, I'm here!"

Sylvester quickly paced past the lab benches, full of an array of high-tech devices, and researchers fixated on improving and innovating them. Upon making his way to Professor Oak's office and knocking on the door, he was greeted by a brown-haired research assistant in glasses and a lab coat named Melvin. "Welcome, Sylvester! Professor Oak will be right back… Have a seat in his office with me. The three pokeballs containing your prospective Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are right on his desk," he said. Sylvester shook hands with Melvin, then walked in and made himself comfortable.

"I see Sylvester made it here!" Professor Oak said, entering his office shortly after.

"Hi Professor Oak!" Sylvester exclaimed.

"Hey Sylvester! Today's the day—how are you feeling?"

"Great! I can't wait to begin my adventure. Thanks so much for all of this!"

"Of course! I think you have so much potential, Sylvester. You demonstrated in your classes that you have a strong aptitude for pokemon knowledge, and now you just have to apply it to real life!"

"Thanks, Professor Oak."

"And hey—if you work hard, maybe you'll even become the next Red," Melvin added.

"Red? The champion of the Kanto league?" Sylvester asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Red is from Pallet Town as well, and I gave him his first pokemon. His mother still lives in town and she's a good friend of mine, actually! When he was a kid, he went by the name Randy—he only adopted the alias 'Red' after all of the fame he accumulated from winning the Pokemon League Championship," Oak explained.

"Ah, I see," Sylvester replied. "Why 'Red?' Does he train fire types?"

"Red trains all types of pokemon," Oak answered. "I'm not quite sure why he chose the name—perhaps because he always wore a red hat!"

"So what starter did Red choose? Was it Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle?"

"Actually, none of those pokemon were available by the time Red came in to accept his first pokemon. Instead, I gave him a Pikachu. He went on to catch all three starters during his journey and evolve them all to their final stages, though. It was quite impressive."

"Wow, I hope I can do the same."

"With hard work, anything is possible! Now, Sylvester—would you like to take a look at all three pokemon or do you already have one in mind?"

"Thanks for the offer, Professor Oak, but I've already decided! I'd like Charmander," Sylvester said, a big grin forming on his face.

"Alright," Professor Oak said, grabbing the middle pokeball off his desk and handing it to Sylvester. "Charmander is all yours!"

"Thanks so much, Professor Oak! Go, Charmander!" Sylvester said, throwing his pokeball up in the air and releasing Charmander from its capsule. "It looks… amazing. A real live Charmander."

"Charmander! Charmander!" the little Charmander cried.

"Take these as well," Melvin advised Sylvester as he handed him five additional pokeballs. "These are empty; you should be able to catch your first few pokemon with them!"

"And have this," Oak added, throwing in a small red electronic device. "This is a Pokedex; when you encounter unfamiliar pokemon, you can use this device to learn more. Simply point it at the pokemon in question, and the Pokedex will provide an identification to the best of its ability. Try to fill it with as many pokemon sighted as possible!"

"Thanks so much, both of you!" Sylvester said, accepting the extra pokeballs and Pokedex. Soon after some additional small talk and friendly good-byes, Sylvester left the lab with his new Charmander in his arms and headed back home.

* * *

Kai's cell phone began ringing. "Chi, I'm getting a call from Gideon."

"That scientist that we met back at headquarters? What does he want?" Chi asked suspiciously.

"He's one of the technicians in Oak's lab," Kai smirked. "I asked him to call me if he caught wind of any information about new trainers."

"I see… Well pick it up!" Chi ordered. "You're going to miss the call!"

"Hello, Gideon?" Kai answered the call.

"Speaking to Kai, correct?" Gideon asked.

"Yessir," Kai responded. "Oh? Okay… Uh, huh… Yes… Okay perfect, thanks, Gideon. Have a good one." He hung up.

"Well?" Chi asked.

"He says he just saw a kid leaving Oak's lab with a Charmander," Kai informed her. "Tonight's the night…"

"Perfect."

"Mime!"

* * *

Upon walking through the door of his house, Sylvester found both of his parents anxiously sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh, wow! Is that your new Charmander?" asked his mother.

"Yep! My very first pokemon," said Sylvester.

"It's so cute! I mean—it looks very tough!" complimented his mother.

"Listen, Sylvester," his father began. "Your mother and I are very worried about you. You're still so young and the pokemon world is a rigorous one… Please make sure you use that cell phone we gave you to call us every single day."

Sylvester rolled his eyes. "Of course I will, Dad."

"I just checked your backpack—it seems you have everything you need! But just like your father said, if you discover you forgot something, let us know and we'll send it right over!" his mother followed up.

"Okay, thanks guys! I think it's time for me to go." Sylvester embraced both of his parents one last time before leaving the house. His parents followed him out the door, waving him good-bye until he was no longer in sight. A few streets later, Sylvester and Charmander were at the edge of Pallet Town, ready to depart. Onto Route 1, eventually leading to Viridian City!

Very suddenly, all signs of civilization ended and pure wilderness began. Rather than a mosaic of houses and trees, there was merely a dirt path surrounded by patches of tall grass and forest on both sides. The farther Sylvester walked from town, the more frequent pokemon sightings became. Sylvester, however, was not impressed—abundant as they were, the only pokemon around this route were Rattata, Pidgey, and Spearow. "Not much to log in the Pokedex here…"

Spotting a Spearow he particularly favored as it was feeding on some shrubs, Sylvester muttered to himself, "I might as well see what it's like to catch a pokemon. Go, Charmander!" Charmander sprang out of Sylvester's arms and prepared to attack. "Use ember!"

Without warning, the wild Spearow found itself being burned by Charmander's flames. It used a gust attack to blow them away, then flew straight towards Charmander to tackle. Charmander was knocked back, but still determined to win the fight. "Now Charmander, use another ember!" Being burned again, Spearow responded the same way as last time—blowing away the flames with a gust. However, worn down by the impact of the first ember, its efforts were not as strong the second time around, and the flames made their way to Spearow, surrounding it in mild fire. "Finish it with a tackle, Charmander!" Charmander ran in as Spearow struggled to blow away the fire and tackled it. Having lost the energy to further battle, Spearow collapsed.

"Perfect!" Sylvester reached into his backpack for an empty pokeball, withdrew it, and tossed it at the knocked-out Spearow. The ball encapsulated Spearow with a bright red beam. Now filled, the pokeball shook a few times before ultimately settling—Spearow was caught! "Yes! Great job, Charmander! I just caught a pokemon for the first time!" Charmander excitedly jumped up and down. Capturing the Spearow was a breeze!

* * *

"Kai, look! There's the kid!" Chi spotted Sylvester and Charmander celebrating their capture of Spearow through her binoculars, as she remained hidden in some distant bushes with Kai and Mr. Mime.

"Okay, let's just follow him until it gets dark. Then we'll strike," Kai advised.

Chi agreed. "You know what you have to do; right, Mr. Mime?"

"Mime, Mime!" Mr. Mime confirmed.

"Okay. Now come out, Venonat!" Chi said, throwing a pokeball in the air to summon her own pokemon.

"You too, Gastly!" Kai followed suit, sending out his Gastly. Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime briefed Venonat and Gastly on the plan soon to be implemented that night.

* * *

Sylvester picked up his pokeball that was now filled with Spearow and threw it in the air, summoning Spearow from its ball. "Are you two both alright?" Charmander smiled—it was perfectly fine. Spearow was a little roughed up. "Here, Spearow," Sylvester reached into his bag again. "Have this burn remedy my mom packed for me." After checking up on both of his pokemon, Sylvester returned Spearow to its pokeball and continued to walk with Charmander in his arms.

Route 1 was a long stretch and began to get quite monotonous. Grass, trees, Rattata, Pidgey, Spearow, path. And before too long, the sun was beginning to set. Once it had gotten dark, Sylvester began to feel a bit nervous. It was difficult to see ahead; the only light source he had was Charmander's tail. He'd never before been left to his own devices in the dark, miles from home. It almost felt like he was being followed, but Sylvester attributed this to the paranoia accompanying new experiences. Still, he'd often turn around and browse the area just to make sure—but he saw nothing. Everything seemed clear!

"Maybe I should set up camp soon…" he surmised. But just as he was about to bend down and reach into his bag for the foldable tent kit, he faintly saw some sort of motion distantly ahead. "Charmander, can you try to strengthen the flame on your tail a little bit and point it in that direction?"

Charmander followed orders, revealing an "injured" Mr. Mime crawling along the dirt path ahead. "A Mr. Mime? You don't usually see those on Route 1…" Sylvester and Charmander began running full speed towards the deceptively frantic Mr. Mime, which began crawling off the path and into the woods, slowly enough to appear wounded but quickly enough to continue to goad them away from the path. "Let's follow it, Charmander! It's weak, so it should be easy to capture!"

Before Sylvester could get a second look, the Mr. Mime was out of sight. "Shoot, we lost it! Light the way, Charmander—we have to look for it!" Their search led them deeper and deeper into the dark forest, extremely far off the path.

"Wait! There it is!" Sylvester spotted it about 10 meters deeper into the forest, and ran toward it. Just as they approached, Gastly appeared, using shadow ball on Charmander. The light provided by its tail got slightly dimmer.

Suddenly, two human silhouettes appeared—both looking quite a bit taller than Sylvester. One was Kai, and the other was Chi. "Were you trying to catch that Mr. Mime, little boy?" asked Chi.

"Uh, yeah," Sylvester replied, slightly dazed and concerned about Charmander.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Mr. Mime is with us," said Kai.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to try to steal your pokemon. I thought it was wild, and I just thought it was so cool to see a Mr. Mime on Route 1!" Sylvester tried to explain.

"I'm afraid we'll have to get even now," Chi said. She stepped closer, now near enough for Sylvester to see her black uniform with a big red "R" centered on her top.

Sylvester's eyes widened in horror. "Team Rocket!?"

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime chuckled in unison. "You poor, unlucky boy."

"Hand over your all your pokemon and money or we will take them by force," threatened Kai.

"No way! I'll call the police!" Sylvester reached for his cell phone. Before Sylvester could dial a single number, Mr. Mime, now clearly uninjured, lunged at him and slapped the phone out of his hand, several meters away.

"Care to battle for your pokemon?" Chi said, reaching into her belt and grabbing a pokeball. "Go, Venonat!"

"Help her out, Gastly!" ordered Kai.

"You're sending out two pokemon at once!?" Sylvester was indignant. "I won't battle you for my pokemon…"

"You have no choice. Your pokemon are all you have to defend you from us. And once we defeat them, we'll get you," Chi threatened.

"Well, I can run!" Sylvester grabbed Charmander and bolted in the opposite direction.

"Gastly, stop him and use mean look!" Kai yelled. Gastly instantly vanished from its current position and reappeared right in front of Sylvester, shooting him a glare that left him immobilized.

Sylvester quickly realized how futile his situation was. "I guess I have no choice… Fine. Let's go, Charmander and Spearow!" he said, releasing Spearow from its pokeball. "We'll take you down. Charmander and Spearow both have a type advantage over Venonat."

Chi cackled. "Type advantage? Did you learn that in school? I assure you, your little Charmander will not beat my experienced Venonat. Charmander is quite a rare pokemon, though—so I am glad to have the opportunity to steal it! It's not every day you find a fresh, defenseless rookie carrying a rare pokemon around."

This angered Sylvester. "Who are you two!?"

"We're Team Rocket, and that's all you need to know," answered Kai.

"No matter. Time to battle. Spearow, use peck on Venonat, and Charmander, fire an ember at Gastly!"

"Such rookie moves," mocked Chi. "Venonat, dodge!" Spearow lunged at Venonat, bobbing its head up and down repeatedly in an effort to peck. But Venonat was too fast, and each time Spearow pecked, Venonat moved just out the way. As Spearow pushed Venonat farther and farther back, however, a somewhat large tree root protruding from the ground caused Venonat to trip, giving Spearow the opportunity to get a few good pecks in before Venonat was able to regain its bearings and slip away.

"Alright, Spearow!" Sylvester cheered victoriously. "Great job!"

"You haven't won yet," Chi threatened.

"Help her out, Gastly! Give Spearow a nice lick!" added Kai. Taking a break from evading Charmander's ember attacks, Gastly vanished and reappeared before Spearow to deliver a paralyzing touch of the tongue. The attack sent chills up and down Spearow's body.

"Now Charmander, ember on Gastly again!" As it was busy with Spearow, Charmander landed its first successful ember on Gastly, interrupting its lick attack and inflicting a burn.

"No! Gastly!" Kai hollered.

"You guys aren't so tough," Sylvester gloated, Charmander and Spearow now side by side and ready for the next attack.

"This has gone on for long enough," Chi was growing increasingly more impatient. "Venonat, finish this with a stun spore!"

"No! Spearow, use gust to blow the spore away!"

"Gastly, stop Spearow by using confuse ray!"

"Charmander, don't let Gastly attack Spearow!" Venonat began persistently releasing paralytic spores, with Spearow deferring them away by conjuring up a wind with the flap of its wings. Charmander continued to hurl ember attacks at Gastly, but Gastly would simply disappear and reappear, each time getting closer to Spearow. When it finally found a position safe from the gust and ember, Gastly released a ghostly beam at Spearow. Now confused, Spearow stopped blowing away the stun spore and began frantically flapping its wings and flailing on the ground. Without the gust to protect them, both Charmander and Spearow became unable to move as they breathed in Venonat's spores.

"It's over," Kai smirked. Gastly blasted Charmander with a shadow ball while Venonat delivered a poison fang to Spearow. Just like that, Charmander and Spearow were both rendered unable to battle.

"No!" Sylvester cried. "Charmander and Spearow, return!" Both were encapsulated back into their respective pokeballs.

"Wow, your pokemon have no fight in them whatsoever," Kai continued to dig into Sylvester. "And now you've lost our wager. Mr. Mime, why don't you take his money and pokemon?" Mr. Mime walked up to the still immobilized Sylvester, delivered him a wind-knocking stomach punch, and grabbed his wallet and the pokeballs containing Charmander and Spearow.

"You can leave the Spearow, Mr. Mime," Chi instructed. She turned to Sylvester. "You seem like an okay kid and your Spearow is a weakling, so we'll let you keep that one. We'll settle for your money and Charmander. Be grateful we spared you your Spearow and your life."

Sylvester, with a cold sweat and still trying to regain his breath, couldn't even speak to respond. He remained on the ground, unable to move.

Mr. Mime handed the money and pokeball to Kai. "Perfect! Nice doing business with you, kid. Be more careful next time." And with that, Gastly and Venonat were returned to their pokeballs, and Kai, Chi, and Mr. Mime disappeared into the night with Charmander and all of Sylvester's money.

Still in shock, Sylvester passed out. After a few hours, he regained consciousness and the ability to move. The forest was still pitch black. He slowly got up from the ground and immediately felt his belt for his occupied pokeballs. Neither were there. His eyes widened—it wasn't just a nightmare. He hurriedly reached into his bag and pulled out a flashlight, using it to scour the ground around him. A few meters away, he found both his cell phone and the pokeball containing Spearow, but sure enough, no Charmander. He released Spearow from its pokeball to make sure it was still there. "Are you alright, Spearow?"

Spearow, having recovered, confirmed with a flap of the wings. It was injured, but for the most part alright. "I'm so sorry, Spearow," Sylvester whispered. "I failed you." Holding Spearow in his arms, tears streamed down Sylvester's face as he reached down for the cell phone and dialed the police.

"This is the police. Hello?"

"I just got mugged by Team Rocket and they stole my Charmander."

"Oh, my god! Are you alright!? Where are you? We will send some officers right over."

"I'm on Route 1. Please come quickly. I need to get my Charmander back."

"Do we need an ambulance for you or any of your pokemon? Some officers are on their way already. Stay where you are—we are tracking your position using our phone system."

"I don't need an ambulance, just get here quickly… Please…" Sylvester's voice began to enter hysterics.

"Okay, we have your location! The police should be there any minute, young man. Do you need anything else from me?"

"No."

"Call back in a few minutes if the police have not arrived."

"Okay I will, thanks."

"Okay, goodbye!"

"Bye."

Sylvester sat on the ground crying with Spearow and waited for the police, trying to digest what had just happened. Spearow was visibly upset as well. Attempting to comfort Spearow but still full of tears himself, Sylvester offered the words "Don't worry, Spearow, we'll get Charmander back and I'll make sure this never happens to you again." His facial expression then became slightly more solemn as he thought to himself, "And I will get my revenge."


	2. The Investigation Begins

CHAPTER TWO: THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS

Having distanced themselves safely from the unconscious ten year-old boy they had just mugged, Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime reduced the pace at which they moved through the bushes. Still the dead of night, the darkness concealed them in their black uniforms quite nicely, though nobody in their right mind would be wandering around outside at this time anyway. With Gastly floating near Kai's shoulder and Venonat in Chi's arms, the team breathed a collective sigh of relief. "You did great, Venonat," Chi's softened tone was almost exclusively reserved for her beloved Venonat.

"You as well, Gastly," Kai agreed, stroking his pokemon gently on its gassy black ball of a head.

As they shuffled through the grass, Mr. Mime observed a quick lapse in Chi's victorious demeanor. It poked her shoulder. "Mime?"

"Mr. Mime, how do you read body language so well?" Chi said. "I was trying to hide…"

"What's wrong?" Kai asked, not having paid attention to the exchange until Chi spoke up.

"Do… do you think what we did was right? I mean, not right, obviously it wasn't right. But is it okay?"

"Mime…" Mr. Mime turned to face Chi fully, and placed its hands firmly on her shoulder blades, giving her a stern look. In her eyes, it saw fear and regret.

"What, Mr. Mime!?" Chi bellowed.

"I think Mr. Mime is just a big aggravated… We signed up for this, Chi. We knew what we were getting ourselves into. Of course it's not okay, but we're doing it anyway because we need to," Kai explained.

"Mime," Mr. Mime turned to Kai, nodding in agreement.

"I mean, we could make money another way, right?"

"Your parents and my parents… They won't settle for other jobs; you know that. They wanted us to become doctors. Nothing else is acceptable. The only way we can get enough money to make them think that's what we're doing is through these commissions on rare pokemon. You know all of this."

"Ugh, you're right," Chi sighed again. "I just wish there was another way. But I guess it's a dog-eat-dog world. And we've sure got to put our lives before those little kids'."

"Exactly."

There was a brief moment of closure, and then a new matter surfaced. "Mime, Mime!" Mr. Mime tapped Kai's shoulder, pointing ahead to what appeared to be the ray of a flashlight shining on the path, now only about 30 meters away.

"Shoot, it's the cops! Everybody hide in the bushes, and once they're out of sight, we make a run for it. We're almost at Viridian City, anyway. There, we sell that Charmander." Chi instructed, now resolute.

* * *

Complemented by the bursting sound of sirens, red and blue rays lit up the dark sky as hordes of police cars pulled up along Route 1. Emerging from one of them was a relatively young woman with long blue hair and a trench coat with a big shiny police badge. As other police officers began scouring the path and surrounding forest with their flashlights, the blue-haired woman walked towards Sylvester, who was still sitting in the same spot on the ground as when he called. "Hello, sweetheart. My name is Officer—I mean, Detective—Jenny. Are you the boy who called about the Team Rocket mugging?"

"Yes, I am," Sylvester replied, with Spearow nestled in his lap.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Sylvester."

"I see. Hi, Sylvester. First of all, I'd like to say I'm so sorry for what you've gone through. It must have been really scary… Team Rocket is horrible. You should be very proud that you're okay. It's been advised that we take you and your pokemon to the hospital just to make sure everything is alright with both of you. Is that okay?"

"Yes."

"Great. I'll drive you in my car. I was hoping that once we're at the hospital, I could ask you some questions about what happened tonight."

"Yes you can. Are you going to find my Charmander?"

"I will do my best. I've just been assigned to this case as part of a larger investigation that I'm involved with regarding Team Rocket activity."

"You have to catch those thieves. And save my Charmander."

"With your help, hopefully we will be able to. Meanwhile, the other officers will be looking around here for any clues they can find." Detective Jenny offered her best answer as she helped Sylvester off the ground and escorted him to her car.

* * *

"Wow, this is certainly a hustle-and-bustle kind of place," Chi said, cautiously looking around her as they rushed down the dimly lit streets of Viridian City.

"It's still night time; there aren't too many people out right now. And those that are… they wouldn't want to mess with Team Rocket," Kai reasoned.

"You're right."

As they scurried down sidewalk after sidewalk, they began to enter the slums, where the number of street lights, along with the quality of the buildings, progressively diminished. They soon approached a run-down brick building that looked like it had been abandoned for decades. All of the windows were shattered, graffiti covered the exterior, and from outside you could hear the creaking of floors and rhythmic droplet noises caused by some kind of leak.

"Mime," Mr. Mime called out, pointing to the building. "Mime, Mime."

Following Mr. Mime's lead, Chi and Kai walked up the steps of the building's stoop. They were met at the entrance by an enormous, bulky man also wearing his black uniform with the centered red R. He looked them up and down, then nodded. "You may proceed. Head to the basement."

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime made their way through the dark corridors of the building and down the stairs, ultimately finding their way to the basement. It was the only part of the eight-story building that was lit and inhabited. Despite its poor condition, the basement was quite expansive, with a kitchen, several bathrooms, a few other rooms, and a vast central open space filled with chalkboards, tables, and chairs, where many other Team Rocket agents were seated. One woman, whose uniform was a bit nicer than everyone else's, noticed Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime enter. As she walked over to them, they observed that she was quite tall and very pretty, with nicely styled red hair and green eyes.

"Hello, you three," she said. "My name is Ariana; I'm the local executive. What brings you here?"

"Hi, I'm Kai," Kai introduced himself, blushing a bit.

"I'm Chi, and this is Mr. Mime," Chi followed. "We're the agents who were assigned to the task on Route 1."

"Oh, really!?" Ariana's eyes widened. "And how did that go?"

"Here," Kai reached into his pocket and proudly withdrew the pokeball containing the pokemon they stole. "We successfully obtained this starter pokemon from a ten-year old trainer—a Charmander!"

"Very nice work," Ariana winked at Kai, then took the pokeball from him. To ensure that they were telling the truth, she threw it in the air, sending Charmander out. Charmander looked around, shaking and terrified. "It's adorable," she said with a quick cackle, then returned Charmander to its ball. "I'll have to send this over to Archer in Celadon City. It should make us at least $600,000 off of those saps at the Game Corner."

"Excellent," Kai said. "We're happy to be of service."

"Now, follow me… I'll bring you to our little vault so I can pay you properly," Ariana instructed them. She led them across the open space, past the other Team Rocket members who were conversing and planning, and into a room containing a large safe box. She then turned to face them. "And the boy… he's finished?"

"Finished?" Chi asked, confused.

"We finished stealing the Charmander and got away," Kai butted in.

"Oh… I see," Ariana said. She covered it well, but there was a hint of disappointment in her tone.

"Mime, Mime," Mr. Mime quietly said as it warily poked Chi's arm.

"Was he supposed to be 'finished?'" Chi asked, her face showing a bit of concern.

Ariana paused for a drawn-out moment, then brushed it off with a slight laugh. "No, no, no worries! Generally, it doesn't hurt to kill the trainer if they see you so that they can't identify you later. But you three did wonderfully. Here are your commissions!" she said as she handed Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime each $120,000.

"Also, how did you know the trainer was a boy?" Chi asked.

Ariana, now irate in demeanor, turned to her and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it was a 50-50 shot."

"Chi, quit hassling her," Kai nudged, still clearly infatuated with Ariana. "Thank you so much for the commission, Ma'am!"

"Oh, sorry about that," Chi looked down. "But yeah, thanks…" She didn't share Kai's enthusiasm.

"Of course; it was your hard work that got us this Charmander!" Ariana said. "Now that that's done, why don't you head back to the common area? The other agents will fill you in on your involvement in the next task. It's quite close, just in the Viridian Forest, and you can travel with the others. This one's a big one."

"Okay! Thanks again, Ariana," Kai said, directing his partners out of the room. "We'll see you later!"

"Yes you will!" Ariana said flirtingly, closing the door after they left.

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime walked towards the common area in silence for a bit. Then Chi asked, "Don't you think that was a little weird, Kai?"

"Chi, we already talked about this. I get that this organization does some extreme stuff, but it's what we signed up for. We don't _have_ to kill anyone; she just said it was a good idea sometimes."

"Maybe you're right," Chi said. She and Mr. Mime exchanged an uneasy glance.

Back in the room with the safe, Ariana reopened the door to the hallway and made sure nobody was standing around outside, then closed it again. She walked to the table on which the safe was placed, where a telephone also sat. She picked up the receiver and nervously dialed a number. "Boss, the boy is still alive…"

* * *

"Are you comfortable in your cot?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sylvester answered. "Thanks, Doctor."

"Of course," the doctor answered. "Your vital signs look fine. I think you'll be ready for release from the hospital in the morning. We've called your parents and they should be here shortly. Until then, would you mind talking to Detective Jenny?"

"Yeah, she can come."

"Great," the doctor said with a smile. He walked out, calling Detective Jenny in.

"Hey Sylvester," she said as she entered the room. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright."

"Are you tired right now? It's late at night. Do you need to sleep?"

"I can't sleep right now," Sylvester said. "How's Spearow?"

"Spearow will be fine! It's just with Nurse Joy right now at the Pokemon Center here in Viridian City. It should be discharged around the same time as you are, and you two can go home together with your parents."

"Have you found Charmander?"

"I'm sorry, Sylvester, not yet…" Jenny answered, looking down at the white tiled floor. "The officers didn't find anything suspicious on Route 1; your muggers didn't leave much behind."

"Oh."

"But maybe with your help, that will change. Can I ask you some questions about what happened?"

"Sure."

"Okay, can you start by telling me exactly what happened, as you remember it?"

"Yeah… It was getting late, and it was really dark. I was going to set up a tent for the night and go to sleep, but then I saw a Mr. Mime crawling around the path. It looked injured, so I thought it'd be an easy catch. You don't really see wild Mr. Mime on Route 1."

"Okay," Jenny nodded. "So you pursued this Mr. Mime?"

"Yeah, and it crawled off the path and into the trees where it was even darker. The next thing I knew, I was being attacked by two pokemon. And then the Team Rocket agents appeared and said that Mr. Mime was with them."

"Was Mr. Mime one of the pokemon that was attacking you?"

"No," Sylvester answered. "Mr. Mime didn't really battle… But it did punch me in the stomach afterwards to steal Charmander and my money."

"Did you see the Team Rocket agents?"

"I couldn't see their faces. They stayed in the shadows."

"It's okay. What can you tell me about them?"

"They were older than me… But I don't think they were adults. Probably in their late teens… There was one guy and one girl. They were wearing the Team Rocket uniforms; I did see that."

"Okay, that's definitely a start, Sylvester. That's excellent that you can remember all of that. Is there anything else?"

"I… I don't think so. That's all I can remember."

"What pokemon were attacking you?"

"Er… I don't remember. There were two; the Team Rocket people had one each. I think one was a ghost-type."

"I see. So it was two human Team Rocket agents, one guy and one girl, and a Mr. Mime. They each had a pokemon, and at least one of them was possibly a ghost-type. They lured you off the path using a Mr. Mime, and then attacked you and stole your Charmander and money."

"Yes."

"Okay. And that's all you can tell me?"

"Yeah," Sylvester said, tears filling his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry, Sylvester," Jenny said, putting her arm around Sylvester. "That's a big help. Thank you so much for talking to me. It takes a lot of strength to be able to recall those details right after such a traumatizing event."

"Please find Charmander," Sylvester burst out.

"Of course," Jenny said, giving him a hug. She then reached into her pocket. "Sylvester, this is my card. It has both my phone number and e-mail address on it. If you end up recalling additional details, please contact me and let me know. No detail is too small. Anything can help us to find your Charmander."

"Okay," Sylvester said, taking the card and tucking it away in his own pocket.

"Your parents should be here soon. But I'll stay with you until they come."

* * *

"Hi, my name is Martin," a tan, brown-haired man introduced himself to Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime. This time, it was Chi who was blushing. Why was everyone in Team Rocket so attractive?

"I'm Chi, and these are my partners, Kai and Mr. Mime." They all shook hands.

"Please have a seat at the table," Martin said, pointing to a large conference table filled with other Team Rocket agents. "I will begin the briefing on the next task."

The three of them sat next to another pair of agents, a girl with long blonde hair and a guy with short blue hair. "I'm Cassidy," Cassidy whispered to Chi. "This is my partner, Butch."

"Hi," Chi whispered back. "My name is Chi. My partner's name is Kai. And we also work with Mr. Mime."

The two cliques smiled at each other, then turned to face Martin at the front of the conference table by the chalkboard. "Alright, agents. Our next plan takes place deep in the Viridian Forest. It's not a dingy little assemblage of trees like the forests you find along each route—this one is huge, and there are areas that almost nobody ventures to. This is perfect for us." Everyone nodded. "We already have a bunch of agents there, and they've set up somewhat of a hideout. The idea is to build it up and make it much larger. But in order to do that, we need more space. So what we need to do is clear a good deal of land by cutting down the trees. We have a bunch of Pinsir to help us with this, and axes to put all of you to work. We can use some of the wood to expand our base, and we'll sell the rest."

Cassidy raised her hand. "When will we begin?"

"Good question, Cassidy. We will send this cohort off to the Viridian Forest next week. We'll fly you all there from the rooftop of this building. A large space in the forest has already been cleared for us to discreetly land helicopters over there."

"I see," Cassidy said. "Thanks, Martin."

"Any other questions?" Martin asked. The crowd was silent. "Okay. Another thing we plan to do with the cleared land is to raise Tauros over there. Without the trees, it'll be ideal grazing ground for them. Plenty of grass and nobody around to notice. We can build enclosures for them right outside of our base. It'll look like a farm, ha. The perfect cover for a hideout."

"What are we doing with the Tauros?" Chi asked.

"We'll have to breed them occasionally to keep the herd going. But we'll be killing the old ones and selling them for burger meat. We'll make a ton of money." Martin answered. "So that's pretty much all I have to say. You'll receive more information from other operatives when you get there. Does anyone have any other questions?" Once again, everyone was silent. "Perfect. Thanks for listening, everyone!"

* * *

"How are you this morning, honey?" Sylvester's mom asked Sylvester as he lay in his bed back at their home in Pallet Town. He hadn't emerged from that bed in days. Spearow also laid around the room with him, bearing an equally depressed demeanor.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Mom."

"Do you want to do something today, Sylvester?" his dad asked.

"No, it's okay, Dad. I just want to stay here."

His parents stood at the door to his room and sighed. Since he had gotten home from the hospital, he had declined their offers to have his favorite foods, to watch his favorite television shows, to take trips to his favorite places. He had become listless. They were quite concerned.

* * *

About a week after the incident, Jenny made her way to the Oak laboratory. "Hi, Professor Oak. I'm Detective Jenny."

"Hello, Detective. Congratulations on your recent promotion. You're the first in your family to become a detective, aren't you?"

Jenny turned sheepishly red with a big smile on her face and a slight giggle. "Oh Professor Oak, you flatter me. Well, the first woman… But let's not talk about that."

"What brings you to our laboratory today, Detective?"

"Well, Professor, I'm sure you heard about what happened recently with Sylvester. He got his starter pokemon in your lab, and it was stolen on Route 1 by Team Rocket agents."

"Oh, yes," Professor Oak shuddered. "It's truly horrible what they did. How can I be of help to you, Detective?"

"If I could ask you and your entire staff a few questions, that would be great."

"Of course, anything you need. But what do you think my staff has to offer the investigation?"

"Well, being that the incident happened so soon after he got his pokemon here," Jenny explained. "There is a chance that someone in your lab was peripherally involved."

"I see," Professor Oak said, seemingly slipping into his own thoughts for a moment.

"But nothing is remotely conclusive yet, Professor. This is all just speculation. I'd just like to speak with each one—no accusations!"

"Sure, Detective. I certainly hope nobody in this lab is involved with Team Rocket, so please ask away. I'll show you around the lab." Professor Oak began walking around with Detective Jenny, pointing out different rooms and equipment. "It's a one-floor facility. As the principal investigator, I'm one of three faculty with an office; the others are my lab manager, Melanie, and my senior research assistant, Melvin. The other staff are all technicians—they each have a lab bench. There are five of them—Dexter, Norbert, Agnes, Eleanor, and Gideon."

"Excellent. And I can speak with all of them?"

"Absolutely. Melvin actually spoke with Sylvester inside my office the day he got his pokemon, so perhaps you'd like to start with him. But we were all here that day, so be sure to give everyone a go. I'll let them all know they have to talk to you. Here's Melvin's office." Professor Oak said as he knocked on Melvin's door.

"Hi, Professor!" Melvin said.

"Hello, Melvin," Oak replied. "This is Detective Jenny. She's here to ask all of our staff a few questions about the incident with Sylvester and Team Rocket."

"Hi, Melvin!" Jenny said as they shook hands.

"Come in, Jenny," Melvin welcomed Jenny into his office. "Have a seat."

"You two talk; I will let the others know that they need to make themselves available to speak with you, Jenny." Professor Oak said.

"Great; thanks, Professor!" she replied. Oak left Jenny and Melvin to speak while he located each of his other staff members to let them know that they had to answer Jenny's questions.

By the end of the day, Jenny had interviewed Oak's entire staff. Everyone was extremely nice and forthcoming, leaving Jenny without much additional insight into the case. Everyone in the lab had seen Sylvester that day and known that he'd selected Charmander before heading off. If someone here was involved, she certainly hadn't narrowed down who.


	3. Skirmish in the Viridian Forest

CHAPTER THREE: SKIRMISH IN THE VIRIDIAN FOREST

"Mom! Mom! There's a Beedrill in the bathroom again!" a girl screamed to her mother, who was trying to read a book in their third-story Viridian City apartment.

"Another one!? This is unbelievable," the mother responded, putting her book down and shaking her head. She grabbed a broom and headed to the bathroom to ward off the Beedrill. She entered and opened the window, giving the Beedrill an easy exit. After a couple of swatting strokes, the intrusive pokemon buzzed off. "There, now you can use the bathroom in peace… For now, anyway."

The mother returned to her couch and picked up her cell phone, dialing a friend. "Sherry, we had another pokemon in our apartment. I don't understand… This is mayhem! I've lived in Viridian City my whole life and it's never been as infested with pests as the past few months."

"Yeah, it's a huge problem," her friend replied. "For some reason, pokemon from the Viridian Forest seem to be pouring into the city. I've filed a couple of complaints with the forest rangers, and so have a number of my friends, but I'm not seeing much action."

"It's disgusting. The sidewalk by my house is filled with silk and shriveled up Caterpie bodies. I can't walk outside without my shoes getting sticky and gross."

"It's really sad. Lots of Pidgey have been dying from flying through peoples' windows. I also saw in the news that a Pikachu got hit by a subway. Not only was the Pikachu killed, but several passengers died from the resulting thunder shock. I wonder what's causing this. The forest is their habitat – they shouldn't have any reason to be coming here."

"Ugh… I hope this gets resolved soon."

* * *

"This is so grueling…" Chi said as she walked alongside Kai and Mr. Mime, making their way through a grassy forest clearing, carrying large chunks of wood they'd just chopped up. They walked to a large pile of bark behind the hideout, depositing their chunks there.

"I know. Too bad Venonat and Gastly don't chop down trees…" Kai responded. "We need those Pinsir to help _us_."

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime had been hiding out in the Viridian Forest for several months now, helping with the secret operation there. They were surrounded by other Team Rocket agents, many of whom they'd gotten to know pretty well. The headquarters building had been fully constructed from wood obtained by chopping down all of the trees in the area. All around, the trees were gone, with only an even-leveled grassy plain remaining. Adjacent to the headquarters was more cleared land with an area for helicopters to land.

The building had been designed to resemble a barn for the farming facade. It certainly wasn't high-tech, but it fulfilled its purpose. It provided the Rocket agents with a low-key place to plan new missions and run a business. The Tauros herd was thriving—kept in a fenced enclosure, they multiplied quickly, allowing Team Rocket to kill the grown ones and sell the meat at a high rate. Everything was going well. The wild pokemon could be irritating at times, but it wasn't difficult to scare them off.

"That's all the wood you can carry at once, Chi!?" Cassidy called from about 20 meters away. "I thought you were stronger than that, honey!"

Chi looked back at Cassidy and noticed that she and Butch were adding their wood to a pile larger than that of Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime. She then turned away and rolled her eyes. She did like Cassidy—they actually spent a decent amount of time together and shared a bedroom in the headquarters—but she was so cocky and competitive. There were moments that Chi just wanted to shut her ego down.

* * *

"Uh, huh," Sybil said. "Yes, M'am. I understand. We take these matters very seriously. The other forest rangers and I are aware of this issue and plan to investigate immediately." She hung up the phone. This was the fourth complaint today called into the Viridian Forest Ranger Station. Apparently, Viridian City was infested with bug pokemon.

"Another one?" Sal asked.

"Yeah," Sybil said. "The woman on the phone was furious. She said that many of her friends have called the station in the past and spoken with us multiple times already."

"That's weird…" Sal said. "I haven't personally answered a call like that."

"Today was the first time I've heard about this, other than that Pikachu incident on the news. I thought that was just a freak accident," Tristan added.

"I'm here!" Kina, the fourth and final forest ranger, burst through the station doors. "Sorry I'm a bit late."

The ranger station was a pretty small building, somewhat like a shack. It was located on the edge of the forest, not too far from the entrance to Route 2. Inside, it was very bland – the walls were a whitish shade, the floors were tiled gray. Each of the four rangers had a gray cubicle and a desk with a phone. Basic electricity and water utilities were provided, but not much else. Moss grew on the walls, and grass in between the tiles. It was truly a place for naturalists.

"Kina, have you answered any calls related to the outpour of pokemon from the forest into the city?" Sybil asked her.

"Nope! What's going on?" Kina asked, tilting her head. "What calls?"

"We've been getting complaints all day about pokemon disturbing people in their homes in Viridian City. People are mad. They claim they've been calling us for a while," Sybil explained.

"That's so strange…" Kina frowned.

"Tristan, Sal, and I have decided that we need to investigate," Sybil told her. "Get your stuff ready, we're going to be heading into the forest interior… Probably for a while."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Kina said. "Maybe we should prepare more. We don't know what's driving those pokemon out – it could be dangerous."

Sal laughed. "Kina, are you a forest ranger? This is our job," he teased.

"Yes, I know, Sal," Kina answered, now annoyed. "I was simply suggesting we put a little more thought into this. But it's okay; we can go."

* * *

"That Mr. Mime is with us…"

"I'm sorry! I thought it was a wild pokemon! Please don't take my Charmander!"

"Ring… Ring… Ring…"

Sylvester sprang up in his bed. He was awakened from his recurrent nightmare by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He couldn't seem to stop dreaming about it.

"Hey, Sylvester. This is Detective Jenny calling. I was wondering how you were doing?"

"Hi, Detective. I'm… I'm okay."

"Your parents tell me you haven't left your room much."

"I'm just not ready yet, okay? I'll leave when I'm ready."

"It's okay, it's okay," Jenny assured him. "You take your time. I wasn't trying to nudge you out. I just wanted to see how you were doing. You don't happen to remember anything else about that night, do you?"

"Nope."

"Alright. Thank you Sylvester! I'll speak with you again soon. You know you can call me if you ever need anything."

"Yeah. Thanks." Sylvester hung up, placed his phone back down on his table, and rolled back under the covers. Back to bed.

* * *

Nightfall was approaching, and Sybil, Sal, Tristan, and Kina were still wandering the forest in search of abnormalities. So far, they hadn't found much. Tristan led the way with his flashlight—he was the muscle of the group, the stereotypical big bearded man. Sal was leaner, but still toned and quite strong. Sybil, his twin sister, was the same way – from birth, these two lived and breathed the outdoors. Kina was very attractive, but dainty and fragile. None of the others really understood why she wanted to be a forest ranger.

"Wait a sec… Have you guys noticed anything weird?" Sybil asked. She was the most observant of the group.

"No?" Kina responded. Tristan and Sal looked to Sybil questioningly.

"The density of the trees has been declining as we've moved further into the woods. That makes no sense – we usually see more trees in the forest interior," Sybil explained.

"That's true," Sal replied, realizing his sister was onto something.

"Let's keep going; if we follow the decline in tree density, maybe it'll lead us to our source," Sybil suggested. Everyone agreed.

The more progress they made into the forest interior, the more they saw how correct Sybil was. By this time, it was already quite dark. Finally, they happened upon what they were looking for—a clearing in which all of the trees had evidently been chopped down. Before their eyes was a large wooden building beside a launch pad and a pen full of Tauros. In front of the building's door stood two people in farmer-style clothing and a Mr. Mime. The man and woman noticed them due to the shine of Tristan's flashlight, and walked towards them.

"Hi, may we help you?" Chi asked calmly.

"Hi, my name is Sybil," Sybil answered. "These are my colleagues, Sal, Tristan, and Kina." She pointed to each of them as she said their names. "We're forest rangers. We noticed that you've chopped down all the trees around here and even farther out in the woods. May I ask what is going on here?"

"We just needed to clear some land for our farm. We are raising Tauros," Kai explained.

"Okay, do you have the proper permits for cutting down trees and occupying such a large space in the forest?" Sybil asked.

"Of course we do!" Chi responded with an innocent giggle. "We don't carry them on us though. If you gave us a few minutes, we could probably retrieve them."

"That's odd, because you would have needed to file an application with our office and receive approval from one of the rangers…" Sybil surmised. "And yet none of us have heard anything about this Tauros farm."

"Do you think we could take a look inside?" Sal asked, pointing to the barn. Chi and Kai exchanged a look.

"Maybe it's not a good idea," Kina interjected. "We don't know what's inside… Why don't we just take these two back with us?"

"Unfortunately, I'm going to ask that you grant us our privacy here," Chi got defensive. "It's not fair to just barge in and snoop around our barn."

"It's not fair that you just barged in and destroyed our forest," Sybil countered. "Do you have any idea what effects your deforestation has had on the wild pokemon here!?"

"I'm going to insist that we take a look," Tristan nudged, taking a few steps toward the barn.

"Not without a fight!" Chi called out, sending out Venonat.

"Stay out!" Kai backed her up. "Go, Gastly!"

"Mime, Mime!" Mr. Mime made an attempt to intimidate them as well.

"Listen, it doesn't have to be like this. We're not trying to get anyone in trouble. We just want what's best for the forest. Just let us see inside," Sybil asked.

"I'm afraid I must say no," Chi responded. "Battle us or leave – now!"

"Fine, let's go!" Kina interjected. "I choose you, Beedrill and Tangela! Beedrill, use twin needle on Venonat, and Tangela, try to grab Gastly with your vine whip!"

"Venonat, avoid the twin needle attacks!" Chi ordered. Beedrill flew at Venonat quickly, shoving its needle-laden arms towards Venonat's body without any rest time in between. However, Venonat was a master of dodging and didn't tire as easily as many other pokemon. "When you're ready, use stun spore!" Chi waited to call the order so she could surprise her opponent. Once Beedrill tired and the twin needle attacks diminished, Venonat released its immobilizing spores. Suddenly, Beedrill slowed down, unable to move much. "Finish it off with poison fang!"

Meanwhile, Tangela struggled to maintain much of a hold on Gastly. "Why don't you try stun spore on Gastly?" Kina suggested.

"Gastly, disappear!" Kai ordered. Tangela prepared to eject the spores, but before it could launch the attack, it was attacked from behind with a poison fang delivered by Venonat. Injured, it got back up, only to have Gastly reappear right in front of it and hurl a shadow ball its way. Both Beedrill and Tangela were finished.

"Oh, no!" Kina said in upset, withdrawing her pokemon to their pokeballs. "Sybil, these two are so strong… I'm scared to see what's inside. Maybe we should get out now while we still can."

"No," Tristan said. "We can handle this if we stick together. Go, Scyther!"

"Help him out, Butterfree!" Sal added, sending out his butterfly pokemon.

"And you too, Ivysaur!" Sybil contributed as well.

"Guys, I really think they're too strong," Kina advised.

"You can go back," Sybil said sharply. "But it's our job to protect the forest and we're going to do just that!"

"Three pokemon!?" Chi exclaimed.

"Isn't that against the rules?" added Kai.

"Don't act like you care about rules," Sybil retorted.

Chi and Kai looked desperately at Mr. Mime. It shot them back a look of annoyance… Mr. Mime was not a battling pokemon. However, it proceeded to sigh and step up alongside Venonat and Gastly. "Mime…"

"Venonat, hit them all with stun spore! Quickly!" Chi called. Venonat immediately released the spores, but Butterfree had it covered.

"Butterfree, keep the spores away from Scyther and Ivysaur with gust!" Sal warned.

With Venonat and Butterfree deadlocked in battle, Kai tried to get the edge. "Gastly, disappear!"

"Not so fast… Ivysaur, use sweet scent! Keep Gastly entranced with your lovely smell!" Sybil ordered. From the large pink flower on Ivysaur's back shot a delicious-smelling aroma, and Gastly lost the will to hide. Its facial expression was quite content, and it almost seemed to be blushing.

Next, Mr. Mime came running at Scyther, attempting to use its hands to slap it around.

"Scyther, don't let Mr. Mime hit you… Use double team!" Tristan advised. With that, Scyther "divided" into many different Scyther—all just images except one. But Mr. Mime didn't know which was real. Confused, Mr. Mime took a moment to look around. It couldn't slap every single one. Suddenly, all the Scyther images seemed to be flying its way. "Now Scyther, use wing attack!" Mr. Mime was knocked back by a harsh flick from Scyther's wing. "Now, fury cutter!" Using its blade-like arms, Scyther swiped at Mr. Mime repeatedly, rendering it unable to battle.

Meanwhile, Ivysaur had managed to parasitize the woozy Gastly with leech seed, slowly but surely draining Gastly's energy. "Get ready for the big finish… Prepare the solar beam!" Sybil ordered. Ivysaur began collecting light energy in its back flower, and Gastly could do nothing.

It all came down to Venonat, who was running out of stun spore. Its last puff came and went, and then it froze in fear. "Now, Butterfree, use confusion!" A psychic force quickly came at Venonat, knocking it out. Gastly, Venonat, and Mr. Mime had all fainted, and Chi and Kai were defeated.

"Shoot… We have to warn the others!" Chi said. She whipped a walkie-talkie out of her dress pocket and quickly muttered some muffled language into it. Within seconds, about a dozen people emerged from the barn. Some of them were dressed in farmers clothing, but the rest donned Team Rocket uniforms—the characteristic black attire with the centered red R.

"It's Team Rocket!" Sybil's eyes widened. "Let's go!" Sybil, Sal, Tristan, and their pokemon ran past Chi and Kai towards the other agents. Kina warily trailed behind.

"Step aside, Team Rocket," Sal ordered. "Let us see what you're up to in there!"

"Whatever you guys have going on here, it's done!" Tristan exclaimed. "You're going to get the hell out of our forest!"

The Rocket agents erupted in laughter. They began sending out their pokemon: an assortment of Rattata, Zubat, Ekans, Koffing, Grimer, and Drowzee. Individually, Scyther, Butterfree, and Ivysaur were stronger than all of the Rocket agents' pokemon. However, they were sorely outnumbered—they attempted to hold them all off, but it wasn't long before the sheer number of opponents began to overwhelm them.

Sybil, Sal, and Tristan watched in panic as their pokemon were slowly being defeated by the army of Team Rocket pokemon. They each exchanged looks, not knowing what to do.

Just when it looked like all hope was lost, the sound of buzzing and chirping from the surrounding forest began to crescendo. It became overwhelmingly loud, and seconds later, hordes of Caterpie and Weedle began shooting seemingly endless amounts of strong silk at the Team Rocket pokemon. The Rocket pokemon attempted to counter, but this time, it was them who were outnumbered.

"Alright!" Sybil cheered. "I knew the pokemon of the forest had our backs!"

Pidgey flew out of the trees and headed straight for the Team Rocket agents themselves, flying around their heads and pecking at them. Their pokemon, now tethered to the ground by the sticky silk, could do nothing to protect them.

"This charade is over!" Tristan burst out.

Once Team Rocket had been fully thwarted, the forest rangers called off the attack by the wild forest pokemon. They didn't want anyone seriously injured—even if they _were_ Team Rocket agents.

"Thank you so much for your help, all of you," Sal bellowed to the wild pokemon. They looked back at him, seeming to understand his gratitude, and then dispersed, disappearing back into the forest.

"Now, we're going to detain you all at the station and wait for the cops to come," Sybil said. "Line up here and we're going to cuff you all." The Rocket agents prepared to surrender.

"Not so fast," a female voice said from behind Sybil. She turned.

"Kina!?"

"Koffing, use sludge! Weezing, smokescreen!" Before they knew what was coming, a toxic substance was hurled at Scyther, Butterfree, and Ivysaur, blocking their vision. As they struggled to remove the smelly goo-like material, Weezing created a further diversion by releasing thick black smoke. Sybil, Sal and Tristan began coughing.

After several minutes, Butterfree had managed to wipe the sludge from its face, and then blew away the smokescreen with gust. When the smoke had cleared, Sybil, Sal, and Tristan found that all the agents had escaped. They watched as several black helicopters with big red "R" logos imprinted on them flew away in the distance and disappeared into the sky. "Dammit!" Sybil cussed. "Did you know Kina had a Koffing and Weezing?!" she asked the others.

Sal sighed. "I had no idea."

"Thought it was just that Beedrill and Tangela," Tristan said. "She had us all played…"

Team Rocket had left in haste, however, and left behind just about all of their equipment and supplies. The Tauros remained in the pen.

"Well, I guess what's most important is we got them out of the forest," Sybil surmised. "But we'll have to notify the police to make sure they don't come back."

"Agreed, sis."


	4. Finding the Moles

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDING THE MOLES

There was a knock at the Viridian Forest Ranger Station door. Sal and Tristan perked up from their cubicles, and Sybil ran over to let their visitor in. "Hi, I'm Sybil."

"Hi, Sybil. My name is Jenny and I'm the detective you spoke to. Thanks for notifying the police about your situation. There's an ongoing investigation of Team Rocket's activities," Detective Jenny explained as she walked in the door. It had been a few days since the incident. Although Sybil's report was filed to the Viridian City police, it had to be relayed around to various officers and departments before it ended up in the appropriate hands. It was a rather inefficient process. Once Detective Jenny got ahold of it, she drove down to meet the rangers.

"I'm Sal, and I'm actually Sybil's twin brother," Sal got up and shook Jenny's hand.

"And I'm Tristan, the last forest ranger. I'm not related to these two by blood, but they're certainly like family to me!" Everyone shared a brief laugh. Then Sybil offered Jenny a seat and the four began talking.

"So originally there was a fourth ranger here," Jenny began reiterating the information she'd already been told. "And she turned out to be a mole for Team Rocket?"

"Yes, her name was Kina," Sybil explained. "Well… Maybe her name was Kina. We don't know what was true and what was a lie, honestly."

"She managed to keep from us that she had a Koffing and Weezing," Sal added. "All along we thought she just had a Beedrill and Tangela."

"We've gotten ourselves into a couple of life-threatening pickles," Sybil commented. "And yet, throughout her entire time of working here, she'd never once sent out her Koffing or Weezing for help, even when they could have saved our lives. It's astonishing. That takes willpower."

"Interesting…" Jenny said as she took notes. "How long did you all work with her?"

"She's only worked here for a little more than a year," Tristan answered. "She's the most recent of all of us."

"Has she ever shown disloyalty in the past? Why did your office employ her?"

"She seemed really qualified on paper," Tristan explained. "She never really showed 'disloyalty' before—just incompetence. I'd say she was great when she first started, but after a while she just started sucking. She didn't seem to like the job at all."

"Which makes sense now," Sybil surmised. "I used to think she was just listless."

"Do you have anything else to tell me about her?" Jenny asked. "Did she have any other pokemon? Do you have a photo of her?"

"Yeah, there are some photos of her with friends on her desk. You're welcome to snoop around there for anything that might help. She probably didn't keep anything too revealing there, though," Tristan offered. "She didn't have any other pokemon—at least to our knowledge."

"But once you're done having a look around her desk, we have to bring you to the hideout they were staying at in the forest. They left behind a lot of stuff; I'm sure some of it will be useful to you," Sybil urged.

"Thank you all so much," Jenny said gratefully. "And when we get there, you can show me exactly what happened. But first, I'll have a look at Kina's desk."

* * *

"Finish it off with peck!" Sylvester ordered. With that, Spearow swung down from its place in the air and delivered the final blow to its opponent, a Kakuna owned by a bug catcher named Cale. Kakuna fainted, and its trainer returned it to its pokeball.

"Wow! That was a great battle! Your Spearow took out all four of my pokemon!" Cale praised.

"Well, to be fair, we did have a major type advantage," Sylvester replied in a haughty tone. "You have to evolve your pokemon—Caterpie, Metapod, Weedle, and Kakuna are weak until they're fully evolved."

Cale frowned. "I can wait until they're ready. It's not like bug-type pokemon take a long time to evolve anyway…"

"True," Sylvester said. "Well, thanks for the battle!"

"Yeah, you too. Catch you later."

With that, the trainers went their separate ways. It had been nearly a year since Sylvester was mugged, and Detective Jenny had not come any closer to identifying his assailants or finding his Charmander. Sylvester was beginning to lose faith, but he realized he couldn't mope in bed forever. He began to venture off onto Route 1 and challenge trainers in the area to battles. He would never veer too far from Pallet Town, though, and would always return home long before nightfall. But it was a good first step.

Moments after the bug catcher had disappeared into the distance, Sylvester and Spearow heard a rustling sound in the bushes behind them. Sylvester's mind immediately jumped to the thought of ambush by Team Rocket—chills ran up and down his body as he quickly turned around and prepared to face his attackers.

However, just when Sylvester's body was about to seize in panic, the little head of a Rattata poked out of the rustling bush. Sylvester's stress quickly subsided as he breathed a sigh of relief. Still, he wasn't going to let a little Rattata get away with scaring him like that. "Spearow, get that Rattata with a gust attack!"

Rattata attempted to bury its head back in the bush, but Spearow's gust was strong enough to blow it apart, leaving the frightened wild pokemon exposed. The small tornado of dirt and leaves overwhelmed Rattata as it struggled to find a means of escape. "Now Spearow, dive in and get it with a peck attack!"

Unable to see much around it, Rattata was not prepared for an aerial attack from Spearow as it dove beak-first towards Rattata and launched several pecks. It wasn't long before Rattata was knocked out. "There we go," Sylvester smirked. "Nice work, Spearow!"

Then it occurred to Sylvester that he still had 4 empty pokeballs on his belt. He decided to whip one out and toss it at the fainted Rattata. The ball encapsulated it, shook a few times, and then lay still. Sylvester had caught Rattata!

"Sweet!" Sylvester exclaimed. "Now I've got two pokemon again." A yawn emerged from his mouth, and he realized it was evening time, and he was getting tired. Enough for today. He triumphantly began his walk back home with Spearow and Rattata.

* * *

"So this is it, huh?" Jenny said, peering wide-eyed at the Rocket hideout in the Viridian Forest. "It looks like a barn."

"They were trying to make it out to be a Tauros farm," Tristan explained. "That pen over there was filled with Tauros. We ended up catching all of them and sending them to Professor Oak in Pallet Town. His lab apparently has an outdoor sanctuary for pokemon."

"Yeah, it does," Jenny confirmed. "I've been there. It's a pretty nice and safe place to live for a pokemon. Good choice!"

"I did keep one for myself though," Tristan grinned. "Couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a Tauros on my team!"

Jenny laughed. "I guess that's alright since you did save them, after all… So can you walk me through what happened?"

"Okay," Sybil said. "So we had received a bunch of complaints about spillovers of wild pokemon from the forest into the city. The four of us went to check it out. We were wandering through this forest in search of a cause and I noticed that trees were being cut down. So we followed the decline in tree density until we found… this."

"This guy and girl dressed in farmers clothing were standing in front of the barn. It seemed innocuous enough at the time, but they were probably lookouts. There was also a Mr. Mime with them."

"A Mr. Mime!?" Jenny's eyes widened as she recalled the involvement of a Mr. Mime in Sylvester's mugging. "Can you tell me more about this man and woman?"

"It was dark out," Sybil cautioned. "But… they looked like they were in their late teens. They both had black hair, manila-colored skin, and slender-shaped eyes. The guy's hair was short, the girl's was long."

"Do you think you could sit down with a sketch artist and describe them more in detail?" Jenny asked.

"I don't think so… That's about as much as I remember. I couldn't really make out more distinct facial features than that," Sybil said. Sal and Tristan agreed.

"So then what?" Jenny asked.

"They tried to act like it was just a farm and that they had all the proper permits," Tristan told. "We knew they didn't because we're the ones who would grant them."

"I asked to see inside the barn and they wouldn't let us in," Sal added. "They got angry really quickly and wanted to battle."

"Kina stepped up out of nowhere," Sybil said. "She hadn't taken initiative the entire time, and suddenly wanted to battle them. She used Beedrill and Tangela, but she lost."

"Do you remember their pokemon?"

"Yeah," Sal said. "The girl used a Venonat, and the guy had a Gastly."

"Gastly…" Jenny said, writing all of this down. This was consistent with Sylvester's account of his assailants having a ghost-type. At this point, she was pretty sure that the lookouts at this hideout were the same two agents that attacked Sylvester. The Mr. Mime, the ghost-type… But of course, it was still too soon to jump to conclusions. "Okay, so then what?"

"Kina wanted to turn back after she lost, but we gave battling them a go," Sybil told. "Together, Sal, Tristan, and I were able to beat Mr. Mime, Gastly, and Venonat." Her face looked proud.

"But then the girl tipped off the agents inside, and they all came out and sent out their pokemon. We were majorly outnumbered," Sal inputted.

"Our pokemon were stronger than theirs, but we couldn't take them all on at once," Sybil reasoned. "But just when things were getting really bad, the wild pokemon of the forest saved us."

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked.

"All these wild pokemon came out of the woodwork and started attacking the Team Rocket agents and their pokemon," Tristan explained. "They must have had a lot of pent up anger towards the Team Rocket agents for destroying their home."

"Why didn't they just attack them in the first place?" Jenny asked.

"The pokemon of the Viridian Forest are very meek and good-natured," Sybil stated. "I bet they were just afraid until we stepped up."

"Okay, so the wild pokemon outnumbered Team Rocket?" Jenny asked.

"Yup," Sal answered. "Team Rocket was beat. We thanked the wild pokemon for their help and told them to leave for their own safety. We were going to detain all the agents until the police could get here… But then Kina betrayed us."

"What did she do?" Jenny asked.

Sybil's facial expression got really angry. "She basically sucker-punched us. When we were vulnerable, she sent out Koffing and Weezing. Koffing covered all of our pokemon in sludge, and Weezing diverted with smokescreen. By the time everything was cleared, Team Rocket had gotten way."

"But they left a lot behind," Sal optimistically inserted. "Have a look around, Detective. And then go inside – they left so much in there. I'm sure some of it will be of use to you."

"Thanks, you guys," Jenny said, opening the door of the barn and walking in. The building's interior did not match its exterior at all—it was certainly not an actual barn. There were several tables full of all sorts of papers and files. A couple of computers sat around the place.

One desk stood out to Jenny in particular. It had a large blueprint laid flat out across it. It didn't take her long to realize the blueprint was that of Professor Oak's laboratory. Why did Team Rocket have this? And how did they get it?

"What the heck…" Jenny quietly muttered to herself.

"What is it?" Sybil asked.

"They have a blueprint for Professor Oak's laboratory over here," Jenny scanned it up and down multiple times, trying to understand the sloppily written notations on it. She then looked around the desk to see what else was there. Within a cabinet sat a rack containing file folders. Each file folder was filled with information about Oak's staff. There was one on Professor Oak himself—that one was quite extensive. Then there were Melanie, Melvin, Dexter, Norbert, Agnes, and Eleanor. Jenny thought hard, trying to remember if this was Oak's entire staff.

Each folder seemed pretty meticulously put together. There were discreetly taken photos, addresses, information about their research projects, and other suspiciously private information. But one staff member was missing—Gideon! Jenny remembered interviewing him. Why was he not under Team Rocket's surveillance like the rest?

Jenny went back to the blueprint, attempting to locate Gideon's bench. It was the only one that had no sort of notations marked on it. She then took a more careful look. All of the entrances and exits were marked, including those to the outdoor pokemon sanctuary behind the lab building. Some of the notations were seemingly random first-names with arrows directing them to a particular lab bench or office… Could this be plans for an attack?

Finally, Jenny spoke up. "I suspect that Team Rocket may have planted someone in Professor Oak's lab as they did here with Kina."

The three rangers turned to her in shock. "Oh, shit…" Sybil uttered.

"I'm going to call my squad back at the Viridian City police station to come here and collect all of the evidence," Jenny informed them. "I need you to take me back to your station so I can get to Pallet Town as soon as possible."

"You got it," Sal said.

The four of them left in haste as Detective Jenny simultaneously called in a more thorough search of the hideout to the Viridian City police. She next made a call to Professor Oak, informing him that she would be returning to his lab, but not to tell any of his staff. Despite her assertion that she could not say more for the time being, Professor Oak cooperatively agreed.

Once they got back to the station, Jenny immediately moved to get in her car. "Thank you all so much for your help today," she said with genuine gratitude. "I'm sorry I have to take off like this."

"It's fine," Tristan chuckled. "You do your thing, Detective!"

"Detective, one more thing," Sybil said.

"Yes?" Jenny asked.

"If you find out where Kina is and you need back up, let us know," Sybil told her. "I'd be more than happy to help take down that bitch."

Jenny smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate that." She exchanged one last thankful glance with them, then got in her car and raced off.

* * *

"You mean to tell me that you were thwarted by three forest rangers and some wild bug pokemon!?" Ariana asked, not even trying to hide the disappointment and anger in her voice.

"Yes…" Martin, the operative in charge of the task, reluctantly answered. Shame covered his face. "There were _a_ _lot_ of wild pokemon. There wasn't much we could do… They all attacked us at once."

"The boss is _not_ going to be happy about this, Martin," Ariana sharply remarked as she sat across her desk from him in her office in the basement of their rundown, abandoned Viridian City building hideout. "We invested quite a bit of time and money into that operation." To calm herself down, she began stroking the hood of her Arbok, which sat coiled at her side.

"And we made plenty of money off of the Tauros, too," Martin defended.

"I don't know if we had fully compensated our expenditure yet. I'll have to take a look at the finances later, but I doubt it," Ariana retorted. "You're lucky that I planted Kina in the Ranger Station when I did, or all of those agents would be in jail right now."

"You're right…" Martin admitted disappointedly, bowing his head. He was afraid to look up at Ariana and Arbok, who were probably both glaring at him.

"I guess it wasn't a total bust. We probably made most of that money back with the Tauros. And we didn't lose anyone," Ariana softened a bit. "You cleared out all of the plans for our assault on the Oak lab, right?"

Just when Martin had started to be put at ease by Ariana's words, he tensed up again. "There… There wasn't time. We just had to get out of there."

"You _left_ all of our fucking plans there!?" Ariana's anger resurged. "It would be a _miracle_ if nobody has found them yet. You are fucking incompetent."

Speechless, all Martin could do was look at the floor. He could hear the sound of Arbok hissing angrily at him.

"Well, I suppose there's only one thing left to do," Ariana sighed.

"What's that?" Martin asked.

"You are going to fly over that barn with one of our choppers and drop enough Electrode over the place to blast it to smithereens. I want nothing to be recoverable. Now."

"Now?" Martin muttered warily.

"Yes, right now. Go!"

* * *

A few hours later, Jenny arrived at Professor Oak's lab. She did not want to tip off Gideon by seeming like she rushed over, so once she parked her car, she calmly came out and walked to the entrance. She was greeted by Professor Oak.

"Hi Detective, do you think we could talk before you do anything?"

"Sorry, Professor, but I don't think so. I will happily talk to you after, though," Jenny compromised.

"Okay, I understand. Come in." Professor Oak extended his arm to hold the door open.

Jenny entered and quietly approached Gideon's lab bench, where he sat in front of a microscope. "Hi, Gideon."

Gideon took his time finishing inspecting his sample under the microscope, then turned around to face Jenny. "Oh, hello!"

"My name is Detective Jenny. I was here a couple of months ago about an investigation of an incident that took place between some Team Rocket agents and a local trainer."

"Yeah, I remember you." Gideon smiled. Jenny wanted to maintain an air of professionalism, but she couldn't muster up the energy to smile back. Gideon was not easy to look at. He was extremely slender, to the point where it appeared that there was no body beneath his white lab coat. His eyes were barely visible behind his thick black-rimmed glasses, and his overly gelled black hair was oddly combed such that it was split down the middle of his head and went off to either side. While he was well-shaven, his teeth were yellowish. Jenny hadn't really cared before, but now that she suspected him of working with Team Rocket, every aspect of Gideon gave her the creeps.

Seeing Gideon's unwavering smile, Jenny faltered a bit. "I w-was wondering if you could accompany me back to the station so I could ask you some follow-up questions."

"Um…" For a second, Gideon looked conflicted, but ultimately agreed. "Yeah, sure. Just give me a second to gather my things."

Well, at least he was cooperating. Jenny relaxed a bit. Professor Oak stood behind her. She turned around to look at him, and they exchanged a look of mutual understanding. Gideon was the mole.

Gideon quickly moved to lodge all of his files, books, and laptop in his backpack. He basically cleared his entire bench, stuffing his bag to capacity. Weirdly, however, he did not take off his lab coat. "Alright, I'm ready," Gideon said, walking towards Jenny. Another smile crept onto his face. "Oh wait, one more thing…"

"Sure," Jenny said, thinking he just needed to fulfill some kind of lab duty before leaving.

Gideon turned away from her, took a few steps back towards his bench, and then reached into his lab coat pocket. He pulled out two pokeballs, sending out a Voltorb and Electrode. "Use self-destruct!"

"Crap!" Jenny exclaimed. Within seconds, both Voltorb and Electrode exploded, causing an enormous burst and a great deal of smoke and debris to circulate through the air. Some of the other research technicians screamed. Jenny and Oak fell back, and all of Oak's staff became unable to stop coughing as they breathed in the fumes.

When the ashes finally cleared, Gideon was gone, and one of Oak's walls had a massive hole in it. Small embers were scattered across the floor near the hole. It didn't appear that anyone was seriously injured, though Jenny's head hurt a bit and Professor Oak struggled to get up.

"Somebody call the police and the fire department! Also, get an ambulance for the Professor!" Jenny instructed. Melanie, the lab manager, was on it. The rest of the technicians scrambled to make sure that their precious lab equipment hadn't been completely destroyed.

"Wow…" Professor Oak said in astonishment. "What was that?"

"Are you alright!?" Jenny asked.

"I think so," Professor Oak said, still lying on the floor. "What about yourself?"

"Yeah," Jenny said, ignoring the pounding in her head as she knelt next to Professor Oak and began performing palpitations on his arms and legs to make sure there were no broken bones. Everything seemed okay.

"So Gideon…" Professor Oak began.

"Yeah... I think my suspicion is confirmed now," Jenny surmised. "Professor, I think Gideon was planted in your lab by Team Rocket to monitor your activities."

"Well, now I believe it!"

A few minutes later, police cars swarmed the perimeter of the building. A fire truck unloaded a few firefighters who quickly mobilized to vanquish the flames, and some emergency medical technicians helped to load Professor Oak into an ambulance for transport to the Viridian City Hospital. Jenny accompanied him and his caretakers in the ambulance. Its sirens wailed as it rapidly took off.

"Professor, how long has Gideon been working here?" she asked.

"Gideon's worked here for a few years, I'd say," Professor Oak said, squinting his eyes in an effort to remember more clearly.

"How was he as a staff member?"

"Gideon was great. He conducts research on pokemon cloning. He was a pioneer scientist in elucidating the mechanisms of Ditto's transformations. He'd done a lot of that work in my lab."

"And as a person?"

"Actually, we never really talked about our personal lives. He kept it professional. It didn't seem weird to me because a lot of scientists are like that – they're private people. And they mostly just like talking science. I thought Gideon was just like that, too."

"Understandable," Jenny sighed. "How did he come to work in your lab?"

"Well, he just applied for a research technician job one day. I looked over his application and it looked good. He had really high marks from graduate school and lots of interesting research experience."

"Is there anything else you can remember about him?"

"Hmm…" Professor Oak sat back in thought for a couple of minutes as the emergency medical technicians monitored his heart rate and blood pressure. "Actually, there is!"

"Yes?" Jenny asked hopefully.

"I remember now! At the time, I wasn't actually looking to hire anyone. His application just haphazardly came in. Even though he was highly qualified, I told him I wasn't really hiring. But then he showed me this stunning reference he had from Giovanni, the gym leader of Viridian City. It was pretty compelling. I ended up hiring because I felt stupid turning away such an innovative scientist."

"Giovanni…" Jenny thought for a moment. Giovanni was a gym leader and prominent businessman. He was well known as a prominent figure throughout the Kanto region. "Why would someone like Giovanni be affiliated with a scientist like Gideon?"

"Gideon had done some cloning work with funding from Giovanni's business. But come to think of it, I don't know why Giovanni would be funding pokemon scientists. His business involves entertainment…"

"Entertainment?" Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"Like… arcades, bars, night clubs… Giovanni owns a bunch in Viridian City. They make loads of money."

"Yeah, doesn't sound like he'd need Gideon at all. Strange…" Jenny thought aloud.

The two continued talking as the ambulance made its way to the Viridian City Hospital.

* * *

Night was setting in, and Sybil, Sal, and Tristan were getting ready to leave the station for the night and head home. Just as she had finished packing her things, Sybil happened to look out the window and noticed that there was black smoke and fire coming from somewhere in the forest. It was clearly distant; she could only see it because it reached higher than even the tallest trees. This was a big one. "Shit," she uttered, unable to take her eyes off of it. "Sal! Tristan! Come look at this!"

Sensing the urgency in her voice, they ran over and saw exactly why she was panicking. "That looks like it's coming from right around where Team Rocket's barn would be," Sal surmised. A moment of sheer dismay passed as none of them could figure out what to say or do.

"Fuck."


	5. Excavating Mt Moon

CHAPTER FIVE: EXCAVATING MT. MOON

"Ugh… First it was chopping trees, now it's digging… What's next?" Chi nagged. Once again, she found herself engaged in manual labor alongside Kai and Mr. Mime. And once again, Venonat and Gastly weren't much help. This time, however, Chi and Kai were accompanying their fellow Team Rocket agents up in the mountainous caves on the outskirts of Pewter City known as Mt. Moon.

"It'll all be worth it if we find that fossil," Kai reasoned. "It must be worth a fortune." Clusters of Team Rocket agents had been digging holes all around Mt. Moon's cave grounds in search of fossils and any other treasures.

"Chi, you're slacking!" Cassidy haughtily called over from the hole that she and Butch were digging. Sure enough, theirs was just a bit deeper. But it wasn't exactly a fair comparison – Cassidy's Raticate and Butch's Primeape were both pretty good diggers.

Chi grinded her teeth. "Well Cassidy, it doesn't look like you've found anything either!" Why did this girl always need to compare herself? It frustrated Chi a lot.

Gideon sat about fifteen meters away from them at a small "office" he'd set up – a foldable table on which he placed his laptop and a coffee. It had been a few months since he'd fled Oak's lab after Detective Jenny had come to question him. Now he was in hiding, working as the head scientist on Team Rocket's latest expedition to find fossils of extinct pokemon at Mt. Moon.

He'd been researching two ancient (and extinct) pokemon – Omanyte and Kabuto – and he believed that if the agents could find the fossils, then he could extract their DNA and potentially clone them. Based on the time and location during which they lived, it would make the most sense for their fossils to be found on this very mountain. In the few months that Team Rocket had been digging there, one agent had excavated a dome-shaped fossil resembling what Gideon expected the shell of Kabuto to look like. They were still in search of any trace of Omanyte; Gideon suspected that its shell was a helical shape, and that the fossil would be similar.

"Hey! What are you guys doing!?" called the indignant voice of a child.

Several agents looked up from what they were doing to find a small boy standing on a ledge before them, casting a judgmental look with his arms folded. Cassidy rolled her eyes. "I'll take care of it," she muttered as she and Butch approached the child. "Kid, you messed with the wrong crowd today."

Keen to avoid attracting unwanted attention, Team Rocket had made it procedure on this mission to eliminate all witnesses. Another mishap like the one in the Viridian Forest was simply not an option. All of their digging was convenient in that it made the disposal of bodies quite easy. And when the witnesses had rare pokemon, there was an opportunity to make some extra cash on the side.

Chi and Kai abstained from partaking in the murders of the unfortunate souls who happened upon Team Rocket in the caves. Mugging was one thing, but killing with a whole other level. Each time some poor sap approached them, one of the agents would step up, incentivized by the prospect of also stealing pokemon. Chi and Kai would quietly refrain, hoping nobody noticed they'd never volunteered. Nobody had called them out for this yet, but at the same time, it barred them from any chance at a nice commission.

"Oh yeah?" the kid retorted, glaring at Cassidy. "We'll see about that. Go, Sandshrew!"

Cassidy frowned. "You don't have anything better than that?"

"Primeape, climb that ledge and grab Sandshrew, then use seismic toss!" Butch ordered.

"No way! Sandshrew, keep Primeape down there by using sand attack!" the boy responded. From the ledge on which the boy and his Sandshrew stood, Sandshrew turned around and used its hind legs to flick dust and dirt from the ground at Primeape, who was attempting to climb it. Some of this got into Primeape's eyes, forcing it to drop back down and wipe them. At this point, the boy and his Sandshrew began a getaway attempt, running in the opposite direction from Team Rocket.

"Raticate, climb up there and follow them!" Cassidy ordered.

"Primeape, do the same! And bring them back!" Butch added. "We'll catch up to you."

Now unhampered by the flicking puffs of dirt, Raticate and Primeape swiftly climbed up the ledge and began running after the boy. Cassidy and Butch began their climb as well, but they couldn't get up nearly as quickly as their pokemon could.

Unsure of which direction to go in order to escape the cave and realizing that Primeape and Raticate were quickly gaining on him, the boy returned his Sandshrew to its pokeball and hid behind a large rock. It worked. Raticate and Primeape ran right past him.

Just when he thought he was safe, however, two wild Zubat dropped from the cave's ceiling and attacked him. The wild pokemon in the caves of Mt. Moon had been on-edge towards humans ever since Team Rocket had arrived. Like the pokemon of the Viridian Forest, their home was being invaded and destroyed. However, they didn't have the option of leaving—these pokemon were strict cave-dwellers.

Attempting to swat them away, he stood up without even thinking about it, and was met by Cassidy and Butch, who had been trailing behind Raticate and Primeape. Butch quickly delivered a sucker-punch to the kid's stomach, winding him and knocking him to the ground. Cassidy grabbed the pokeball containing Sandshrew.

"Our pokemon are not very intelligent, huh?" Cassidy remarked as she exchanged a look with Butch. Then she raised her voice. "Raticate, over here!"

"Come back Primeape!" Butch called out as well. Their commands echoed through the cave.

Before the pokemon returned, the boy attempted to get back up and make a second run-for-it, wailing for help. Butch put a stop to this by stomping on him, then kicking his ribs until he lay quiet and still.

When Raticate and Primeape returned, Cassidy shot them an angry gaze. "You two ran right past our intruder!" She sighed. "Finish him off. Then bring the body back to our dig site," she instructed, walking back to rejoin her fellow agents. Butch followed. The boy didn't even have enough energy to scream as Raticate and Primeape beat him to his death.

* * *

"How have you been holding up?" Jenny asked as she made herself comfortable on the couch in Sylvester's living room. Sylvester's mom handed her a coffee as she sat down with the family to discuss Sylvester's emotional state.

"Things were starting to get a lot better," Sylvester responded. "But after what happened at Oak's lab, I'm kinda scared again."

"All of the damages have been fixed!" Sylvester's mom tried to divert attention to a positive aspect. "It took a few months, but it looks like Oak's lab is up and running just as it used to be."

"Yeah, and I don't think something like that will happen again," Sylvester's dad backed her up. "I'm sure Oak will screen for employees a little more carefully now."

"But that doesn't matter," Sylvester rebutted. "It already happened."

Jenny looked at Sylvester's parents. Their intentions were good, but they were just interfering. "May I have a few minutes alone with Sylvester? I'll happily speak with you two afterwards."

"Of course," Sylvester's mom replied. His parents quickly got up and went into the kitchen, out of earshot from Sylvester and Jenny's conversation.

Jenny turned to face Sylvester directly. "Now we can speak in confidence."

"Why do you always call and visit when you bring no news on Charmander?" Sylvester sharply asked.

"Because it's my job," Jenny answered. "Sylvester, I joined the force because I want to make a difference through justice. Catching the bad guys is only half the battle. I also need to make sure that innocent victims like you are able to recover."

Sylvester looked at the ground. "I can't recover. I thought I could, but hearing about Oak's lab just brought it all back."

"I understand…" Jenny looked at the ground as well. "It's really hard."

"It's just… I was starting to think it could never happen again. It seemed like I could safely cross Route 1 without seeing Team Rocket. And then it turns out they're still in my very own town."

"I won't lie to you," Jenny responded. "Team Rocket is going to be around for a while. I'm trying my best, but they're a big organization and it's going to take a lot of time and help."

"Yeah, I get that," Sylvester softened. "I get that it can't happen overnight. I just want to start my journey again, but I don't want to lose Spearow or Rattata. And I don't want to disappoint my parents or Professor Oak again."

"Sylvester, you aren't disappointing anyone. Not your parents, not Professor Oak, nobody. You went through a horrible experience which could have happened to anyone. They understand that."

"I know, but it didn't happen to just anyone," Sylvester explained. "It happened to me. And that makes me feel disappointing and weak. But everyone wants me to just move on and be strong."

"Yeah, I can relate to that," Jenny said.

" _You_?"

"Yeah, even me, Sylvester. I come from a family that lives to serve on the force. Nearly everyone in my family is a police officer. But I'm the first woman in our entire family to be promoted to a detective position. And let's just say some of the men have some doubts about my capabilities."

"Just because you're a woman?"

"Yeah," Jenny sighed. "And I don't want to feel like I'm only giving it my all to prove something to them. Because I don't owe them that. But still I fear disappointing my family, and proving my skeptics right. So I have to be strong – always."

"That sounds rough, Detective," Sylvester empathized, humbled by Jenny's words. "It sounds like a lot of pressure."

"It can be, but that's what I signed up for, so I won't give up," Jenny reasoned. Then she looked back up at Sylvester. They made eye contact, and then she smiled. "And if you want to become an expert Pokemon trainer, you'll have to get back out there too."

"I guess you're right," Sylvester genuinely agreed.

They exchanged an extended glance, then Jenny redirected the conversation. "I also never said I came empty-handed this time."

"What?"

"I've actually got a lead! It's not much, but it's progress nonetheless."

"What is it?!" Sylvester became excited.

"A few months ago, there was a confrontation between Team Rocket and the Viridian Forest rangers because some Rocket agents were chopping down a bunch of trees. The two agents standing guard were accompanied by a Mr. Mime, and one of them had a Gastly, which matches your description of a ghost-type! The other pokemon was a Venonat."

Hearing that triggered the memory of Venonat in Sylvester's head. "That's right… One of the pokemon _was_ a Gastly, and the other was a Venonat! Do you know where they are now?!"

"Unfortunately not," Jenny responded. "But I have at least a vague physical description of them now, and we know they were hanging out in the Viridian Forest."

"You're just telling me this _now_?"

"I know. I'm sorry. Right after I found out, I immediately had to deal with the incident with Gideon at Oak's lab."

"Oh… Right. Well did they leave any clues?"

"That's the other issue… Team Rocket kinda came back and destroyed all the evidence they'd left behind. They must have dropped dozens of Electrode over their base. The rangers managed to minimize damage to the forest, but the police officers in my department weren't able to get there in time to search around. But it was my inspection of the base that helped me figure out Gideon was a mole."

"So you got to see it?"

"Yes."

"What was it like?"

"I can't really say much about that. But it's what you would expect from Team Rocket, I'd say."

"Oh," Sylvester said. "So we don't actually know that much more."

"Maybe not," Jenny replied. "But we know what they look like…sorta. And we know what pokemon they have. My point is – they will make more mistakes in the future, and they will show themselves. And when they do, we'll catch them."

Sylvester regained some faith in Detective Jenny. "I hope so."

* * *

"Do you think it's nighttime yet?" Chi asked.

"I don't know; I haven't seen the sun in days," Kai complained.

"Mime," Mr. Mime joined in their groveling. Working in these caves was causing some serious vitamin D deficiencies.

"I think I found something!" one of the Team Rocket agents exclaimed from the hole he was digging inside. Gideon perked up – could this be it? He raced over from his table.

The agent lifted the fossil from the ground and handed it off to Gideon, who closely inspected it. Sure enough, it was a helical shape, just as he expected. "Alright… Great," Gideon complimented. "We now have both fossils! With some luck, I should be able to resurrect the ancient pokemon Kabuto and Omanyte. Come fill out this form, agent, and I will report it to our local executive Ariana for your bonus pay."

Just as Gideon helped the agent out of the hole, a shining ray shot at Gideon's hand, causing him to drop the fossil on the ground. This caught the attention of all of the Rocket agents, who oriented their heads in the direction from which the ray came. Its source was a wild Clefairy using moon blast. The Clefairy looked angry. Gideon bent down to pick up the fossil, but a second Clefairy emerged from behind a nearby rock and scurried beneath him to swipe it away. The Clefairy successfully grabbed it first, then ran to the side of the Clefairy that had first attacked.

Gideon grumbled. "You two are going to pay." He reached inside his lab coat pocket and took out a pokeball. "Go, Magneton! Use mirror shot on those Clefairy!"

The two Clefairy cringed and huddled in fear, but before Magneton could launch its attack, it was knocked backwards by several more simultaneous moon blasts. A whole colony of Clefairy were seemingly coming out of all crevices of the cave, and they all looked prepared to fight.

There were a lot of Clefairy, but there were many Team Rocket agents as well. "Go, Raticate! Attack those Clefairy!" Cassidy ordered. Many Rocket agents followed her lead, sending out their pokemon to bolster the Rockets' numbers against the expanding army of Clefairy. Out came the assortment of Rattata, Zubat, Ekans, Koffing, and Drowzee.

Chi and Kai also sent out their pokemon. Venonat and Gastly both enjoyed type advantages over the fairy-type Clefairy, easily defeating each one they came in contact with using poison-type moves. Still, the Clefairy did not relent. The Team Rocket agents took this as an opportunity to capture a bunch of Clefairy to sell for the Celadon Game Corner.

Mr. Mime then noticed that while the majority of Clefairy remained in battle with the Rocket agents and their pokemon, the first two Clefairy were just watching and communicating with each other. One of them still held the helix fossil.

"Mime," Mr. Mime uttered as it tapped Chi's shoulder and pointed out the two Clefairy. As she turned her attention towards them, they began scurrying off in another direction, running away from the conflict and deeper into the cave.

"Kai, get Venonat and Gastly and come with us," Chi instructed, pointing out the two Clefairy to him as well. Mr. Mime, Chi, Kai, Venonat, and Gastly silently withdrew from the ongoing Rocket-Clefairy skirmish and began stalking the two Clefairy that had slipped away with the fossil.

"It'll be interesting to see where they're going," Kai said. Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime cackled.

* * *

Sybil walked through the door of the Viridian City Ranger Station. She, Sal, and Tristan had agreed after all of the recent events that they'd take turns doing routine patrols of the entire forest. She'd just finished her shift, and just in time – night had begun to set in. But she didn't come through alone – rather, she was carrying a Pidgeotto.

"What do you have there, sis?" Sal asked.

"I found this on my rounds," Sybil explained. "Its wing is broken. I'm going to bandage it up, and we'll keep it here until it gets better." She immediately moved to a small table they had with drawers containing first-aid equipment, gently placing Pidgeotto on the table surface while she rummaged for the proper bandaging.

"Poor Pidgeotto," Sal said.

"Yeah, I'm glad I found it when I did," Sybil responded.

"On the bright side," Tristan inserted. "At least this is the worst thing we've seen on our rounds since Team Rocket decided to bomb their old hideout. I think we've come a long way."

"True," Sybil said. "It helps that we don't have that bitch Kina here anymore." She tensed up as she said it. The very mention of Kina raised her blood pressure, yet she couldn't resist bringing her up herself sometimes.

"You really hate her, huh, sis?" Sal asked.

"I just hate how she deceived us, and how she chose Team Rocket over the welfare of the forest," Sybil explained. "And I'm _sure_ she had something to do with the bombing of the hideout that night." In spite of her rage, Sybil still managed to carefully bandage Pidgeotto's wing. Pidgeotto squawked in fright, attempting to generate a gust attack. In response, Sybil firmly held it close to her, taking care to avoid applying pressure to the broken wing. "It's okay, Pidgeotto, I won't hurt you."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Tristan said. "Well hopefully, Kina will get what's coming to her someday."

* * *

Chi, Kai, Mr. Mime, and Venonat patiently continued stalking the fossil-carrying pair of Clefairy as they scurried through the cave. They maintained an unthreatening distance away, while Gastly invisibly kept pace with their intended victims. Whenever the Clefairy changed direction, Gastly would quickly and discreetly signal back to Venonat, who would then lead the rest of them. At any point in this process, they could have attacked the Clefairy and stolen back the fossil, but Chi and Kai really wanted to see where the mysterious pokemon were heading.

Finally, the Clefairy reached a ledge leading to an exit in the cave. The ledge was tall and steep, but small rocks protruded from its surface that the Clefairy were able to use to climb it. Gastly simply floated up as they climbed, remaining invisible. Knowing Gastly was keeping an eye on them, the rest of the gang waited for the Clefairy to finish climbing before beginning themselves.

Venonat was able to hop from rock to rock with relative ease, but Chi, Kai and Mr. Mime had much more trouble. Consequently, Venonat reached the top significantly faster than the rest. "Venonat, go see what Gastly is up to and if it needs help," Chi instructed as she attempted to extend her leg to reach the next rock up on the ledge. With that, Venonat ran through the cave's exit in search of Gastly and the two Clefairy. Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime were still less than halfway up.

Upon leaving the cave, Venonat scurried through some nearby patch of tall grass in search of Gastly. Gastly, who was still keeping an eye on the Clefairy, noticed Venonat's movements and covertly reappeared in the grass before it. The two were in eyeshot of the Clefairy, which still hadn't noticed either of them. However, it was no longer just a pair – six additional Clefairy joined them. They placed the fossil in a pile of other objects (all of which vaguely took on a spherical shape) in front of a small circular pond. The pond water was crystal clear, reflecting the sky and moon. After their pile of objects had been fully assembled, the eight Clefairy began dancing around the pond synchronously. Gastly and Venonat were confused, and resolved to just wait for Chi and Kai. They remained hidden in the tall grass, keeping watch on the oddly moving Clefairy colony.

Finally, Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime reached the top of the ledge. They walked out of the cave and found themselves beholding an incredible view of the Kanto region – they had reached the summit of Mt. Moon. The full white moon majestically overlooked the land from the blue night sky.

"Wow… this is beautiful," Chi basked in Kanto's beauty for a good minute.

"I wish I had a camera," Kai added.

Even Mr. Mime was impressed. "Mime…" it uttered, nearly speechless.

Once they had finished appreciating the moment, it was back to work. "We need to find Venonat and Gastly, and hopefully they're right on top of those Clefairy," Chi stated.

The three of them looked to their left and saw the patch of tall grass in which Venonat and Gastly were hiding. Gastly noticed Chi and Kai as well, and would occasionally bob its head up from the grass until it caught Kai's attention. "There they are!" Kai whispered, pointing them out to Chi. About ten meters away, the Clefairy colony continued to dance around the pond. The pile of spherical objects then began to shine so brightly that it appeared to be one large glimmering white mass.

Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime saw the eight Clefairy, and then immediately ran towards them. "So this was where they were headed," Chi surmised. Venonat and Gastly followed. There was no need to be discreet anymore – they simply wanted to steal the fossil back by force.

The Clefairy colony noticed Team Rocket charging towards them and stopped dancing, instead clustering together in a defensive formation. This caused the pile to stop glowing – whatever was happening to those objects, it was interrupted by the Clefairy's cessation of their dance.

Chi noticed the obvious change in the pile. "Mr. Mime, have a look at what's in that pile while we battle the Clefairy. There may be more valuables than just the fossil."

"Mime," Mr. Mime complied, digging through the pile and inspecting each spherical object closely.

"Venonat, use stun spore on those Clefairy!" Chi ordered. With that, Venonat began releasing its infamous paralytic spores. The Clefairy huddled in fear, and soon became defenseless.

"Wow, this was too easy," Kai laughed. "Finish them off with clear smog, Gastly!" Gastly proceeded to secrete a poisonous smoke which physically hurt to breathe in. The fairy-type pokemon, particularly vulnerable to poison moves, fainted.

"Mime!" Mr. Mime called to Chi and Kai. Sure enough, it had found the fossil that the Clefairy had stolen. But that wasn't the only object of interest in the pile – there were some more potent versions of pokeballs (great balls, ultra balls, etc.), a Silph Scope, and a literal heap of silvery stones that glowed.

"What are these?" Chi asked.

"Moon stones," Kai answered. "Small pieces of sediment that have fallen from the moon. These are pretty hard to come by, so I'd think they're pretty expensive. Some pokemon need them to evolve."

"Perfect," Chi grinned. "And these Clefairy gathered a bunch of them in one place, just for us! Hahahahaha!" She pulled out a sack and stuffed it with the fossil and all the moon stones.

"I wonder how the Clefairy got all of these," Kai thought out loud.

"They were doing some kind of dance with them before we got here, around this pond which perfectly reflects the full moon… They must have some kind of connection to the moon," Chi reasoned.

"Do you think… we can milk this further?" Kai asked.

Chi thought about it. "Possibly… Like a continuous supply of moon stones?"

"That's what I was thinking!" Kai answered.

"Alright, well let's swipe those Clefairy then." Chi pulled out an empty pokeball in order to capture one of the Clefairy. She turned to face them, only to see them huddled together in fear, unable to move beyond some cowering and shivering. Her face softened, and she loosened her arm, not throwing the pokeball.

Kai noticed as well and had a similar response. "Maybe… Maybe these moon stones are enough. I'm sure they'll make us plenty of money."

"Yeah, you're right," Chi said. "And I bet the other agents have caught enough Clefairy. We don't need to catch these too. Do you think… that they'll be alright?"

"Well… They're pokemon. Their bodies are adapted to take attacks like this, faint, and then get up after they recover. And they have each other. It should be fine," Kai answered.

"Yeah, okay," Chi agreed. "So let's just get out of here." With that, Mr. Mime grabbed the sack, and the three of them began walking away from the pond back towards the cave. Venonat and Gastly guided them through the cave back to Team Rocket's dig site.

When Chi, Kai, and Mr. Mime had returned, there was a huge pile of pokeballs near Gideon's table, presumably containing all of the Clefairy that they had battled at the dig site. It seemed calm, but Gideon was tense. "Where did you three go!?" he asked them.

"We saw a Clefairy making off with the fossil, so we got it back," Kai answered. Mr. Mime reached into the sack and pulled out the helical fossil, handing it to Gideon.

"Oh…" Gideon's demeanor eased. "Thank you. What else is in the sack?"

"A bunch of moon stones," Chi answered. "We stole them from the Clefairy." On their walk back through the cave, Chi and Kai had resolved to keep the pokeballs and Silph Scope for themselves, and only sell the moon stones back to Team Rocket. So they didn't tell Gideon about anything else in the sack.

"Very nice… I'm sure you can work out the payment for those with Ariana," Gideon advised, now grinning. "I thought it was weird that we weren't finding any moon stones here. I guess the Clefairy had just been collecting all of them."

"Guess so!" Kai said.

"What did you do with that thieving pest of a Clefairy?" Gideon asked.

"It refused to cooperate with us and ended up being more trouble than it was worth, so we killed it," Chi lied.

"I see," Gideon said. "It's okay. We have plenty of Clefairy for the Celadon Game Corner. That pile of pokeballs is full of them."

Chi and Kai looked at the pile again, frowned, and then quickly hid the change in facial expression as best as they could. Lacking much insight into social cues, Gideon didn't notice.

"Well," Gideon raised his voice, now talking to all of the Team Rocket agents. "It looks like we're done here! The second fossil has been returned to us. We won't need to scour the mountain for it anymore. Let's fill up these holes, pack everything up, and get out of here!"

The next day, it appeared as if no holes had ever been dug there. Little would any passerby know that the sandy ground was concealing some grave secrets. The Rocket agents loaded the digging equipment into their helicopters, as well as all of the treasures they'd found and the pokemon they'd caught. Lots of money was made on this trip.

Gideon made sure that all of the helicopters, each filled with several Rocket agents, took off safely and soundly, bound for Viridian City. He was the last to leave. With the fossils in his possession, he took his own helicopter, accompanied by only one agent to pilot it. Unlike the rest of the squad, they were heading to Cinnabar Island.


End file.
